(December
2006) The Population Reference Bureau’s recently updated guide, Unsafe
Abortion: Facts & Figures 2006, sheds light on the public health impact
of unsafe abortion. An estimated 68,000 girls and women die each year from
unsafe abortions and millions more suffer complications that need medical
attention.1

More than one-quarter of the world's people
live in countries where the procedure is prohibited or permitted only to
save the woman's life.2 Yet, regardless of legal status,
abortions still occur, and nearly half of them are performed by an unskilled
practitioner or in less than sanitary conditions, or both.3

And in 2006, two countries changed their
abortion laws: Columbia relaxed its ban and Nicaragua expanded its ban.

In May, Colombia’s highest court overturned the
country’s ban on abortion, allowing pregnancies to be terminated when a
deformed fetus is not viable, when the pregnancy endangers the life or
health of the mother, when artificial insemination or transfer of a fertile
egg occurs without the consent of the mother, or when pregnancy results from
rape or incest.4

In November, the president of Nicaragua signed
into law a broader ban on abortions—even in cases when a woman’s life could
be saved. Previous legislation allowed abortions if three doctors certified
that the procedure was necessary to save a woman’s life, in the case of
rape, or when the fetus was deformed and not viable. The new law would help
protect the right to life, which is upheld in the constitution, according to
a statement on the president’s website.5

No exceptions are allowed in cases of rape or
to save a mother's life. With this shift, Nicaragua joined El Salvador and
Chile as the only countries in the Western Hemisphere to place such a ban on
abortion.

In developing countries, about one in six
married women faces an "unmet need" for family planning. They would rather
not become pregnant, but are not using any form of contraception. Reducing
unmet need can help reduce unintended pregnancies, which lead to abortions
and unwanted births.6

Please take a look at this
YouTube video. It will remind
you that every human life is precious and that we can see
this truth most clearly through the face of a helpless,
innocent baby who can do nothing for us but allow us the
opportunity to give ourselves to him in love. It
teaches that joy comes through giving oneself to another for
their own sake and that authentic joy can be experienced in
the midst of difficulties and even amidst tremendous sorrow. Mostly, it will reveal the heroic courage and life affirming
witness that is possible for those yielded to and animated
by the life of the Holy Spirit. Take a look but make
sure you have your Kleenex ready.

If
you ask people why they do the things they do in life, they will give you
sensible sounding reasons which seem to explain their decisions. We like to
believe that we exercise sound judgment, especially in the important
decisions of our lives.

I think that this is rarely true. I think
that standard operating procedure for human decision making is to do what
feels right to you at the time, and then to give logical sounding
justifications for what you were already going to do anyway, whether you had
justifications or not.

So, if you are pregnant, and want to get an
abortion, you will be able to give any number of reasonable sounding
explanations why this is the right decision. You're not ready to be a
parent, or you need to finish your education or get to a better point in
your career, or you don't have enough money, etc.

If instead you want to keep the
baby, you will explain how even though you will have some extra difficulties
due to the lack of money or whatever, you will certainly be up to the
challenge to make your life work with the baby, how being a parent will be
good for you, what a great parent you'll make, how it will bring you and the
father closer together, and so on. In either case, none of these will be the
real reason for your decision. The real reason for your decision will always
be, "I did it because I wanted to do it."

"And I will punish the world for their
evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy
of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the
terrible." —Isaiah 13:11

“To educate our Hispanic community regarding
the life issues, especially the hate crime they have been subjected to by
the abortion industry and promoters of abortion.”

If God could hear the voice of
Abel's blood crying out to Him from the ground (Genesis 4:10), do
you suppose God has missed the cries of those 50,000,000 infants
who've been butchered in America since 1973?